Do You Even Pay Attention To Me?
by Hypnotoad76
Summary: Annie is painting her room and she and a reluctant Jeff go to pick out paint. While at the hardware store they get into an argument on who notices what.


_Why do I always seem to get roped into helping her? _

These were Jeff's thoughts as he pulled into the parking lot of Marni and Harry's hardware store. True, everyone was helping Annie, Troy and Abed with their retouch up of casa AnTrobed. But somehow he had ended up being the one to go with Annie to help her pick out paint for her room.

"Come on Jeff. Let's get the right color so we can get back and paint the walls," Annie said as she got out of Jeff's car and excitedly walked through the parking lot. As she walked she kept absentmindedly touching her hair, which she found herself doing ever since she started styling it differently. "I'd like to get my room painted soon so it hopefully dries before I go to sleep. Paint fumes make me cough."

"I thought Britta said you could crash at her place if the paint wasn't dry."

"She did. But every time I stay over her cats keep me up. So I'd like to avoid that if I can."

"Yeah, they'll do that," Jeff said, remembering how Britta's cats would howl and run around anytime they had sex at her place. He shook his head, not wanting to think about his time with Britta in front of Annie, even if she couldn't read his mind (at least that he was aware of). As he walked behind Annie he couldn't help looking at her legs. He still found it hard to fathom that someone as short as her could have legs that seemed to go on forever. He allowed a moment to mentally picture her in a pair of heels instead of her usual ballet flats, before his usual feelings of guilt took hold of him.

Trying to distract himself from thoughts like that Jeff ran in front of Annie and held the door open for her. She smiled warmly at him as they walked into the store and Annie went right over to the front counter. "Excuse me. Where do you keep your paint and paint supplies?"

"Forth aisle, towards the back Sweetie," the woman behind the counter (an older woman whose plastic nametag had 'Marni' printed on it) said. She watched as Annie purposely walked to the paint section, with Jeff keeping his attention on his phone as he trailed reluctantly behind her.

"Ok, let's see." Annie carefully scanned the paint samples before taking a card and giving it a closer look. "Jeff, what about this one?"

"Fine, get that," Jeff said, not even looking up from his phone as he kept his eyes glued to the screen.

Annie rolled her eyes as she looked at it more closely. "No, I think it'll make the room seem too dark." She put the card back and looked through the samples before pulling out another card. "This one seems more cheery. What do you think about this one?"

"I'm sure it's good," Jeff said as he was engrossed in a game of Fruit Ninja. He continued to play his game when his phone was suddenly pulled out of his hand. "What the hell!"

"Jeff, I'm not going to do this while you stand here playing on your phone. You'll get it back when we're done." She started putting it in her purse when he made a grab for it. She quickly pulled her hand away and slipped the phone in the breast pocket of her shirt, smiling triumphantly as Jeff scowled at her.

"I'm not above reaching in there to get my phone," Jeff said before he realized exactly what he was saying. Both of their eyes widened as Annie felt herself blush while she kept her a determined look on her face. They stood there in their little standoff before Jeff groaned in defeat. "Ok, you win. Let's get this over with." He turned his back on her as he looked at paint samples; both to ignore the smile she had on her face, and to hide the small smile he had on his own.

"What about this one?" Jeff said as he showed her a deep purple paint card.

"No," Annie said as she shook her head. "I don't like it."

"I thought purple was your favorite color?"

"It is Jeff. But I don't think that shade would look well in that room. It would be like sleeping inside a birthday cake," Annie said as she picked up a paint card and the corresponding paint can. "Plus it would clash with the comforter. And since we're painting that room anyway I might as well pick out a paint color that will go with the bed. "

Jeff shrugged as it rolled his eyes. "I thought it looked fine."

"No you didn't Jeff. You just want to pick any color just so we can get this done." Annie scoffed as she set the paint can down somewhat forcefully. "It's not like you put any real effort into noticing things. Unless it revolves around you you can't bother to notice what's around you."

Jeff looked at her as she tapped her foot pointedly on the ground. "I'm guessing you're not just talking about paint."

Annie let out a deep breath of frustration before she pointed at her hair. "Jeff, I've been styling my hair wavy for the past week. I've finally tried doing something different with it for the first time in three years, and you never said a thing. Ever _Pierce_ noticed that I changed my hair. But of course you didn't notice anything. Unless it impacts Jeff Winger you don't pay any attention to anything involving others." With that she turned her back on him and pointedly shifted through the paint cards.

"Nine days."

"What?" Annie said as she turned around to look at Jeff.

"I said nine days. You've been wearing your hair wavy for the past nine days." He smirked at the stunned look on her face as he took a few steps towards her. "Just because I don't say anything doesn't mean I don't notice things." He took one more step forward as he ran his fingers through her wavy tresses. "And for the record, I do like this look on you. It suits you."

Despite her best efforts she couldn't help a smile from forming on her lips. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I don't know," Jeff said as he shrugged.

"Jeff, women like it when a guy notice changes with their hair and wardrobe. It shows they're pay attention to them."

"Yeah well, it's not like you notice any changes I do."

"Jeff, I know that your clean shaven today but had stubble yesterday and the day before. And that you wore a shirt with green in it both today and two days ago."

His jaw dropped slightly in shock before he shook his head. "Wow, you really do have crazy observation powers. Ok, point made. Next time you change something about yourself I'll say something. Especially if I like it," he said as he touched her hair one more time. She smiled back at him before engrossing herself in the paint samples.

After twenty minutes (and several snarky comments from Jeff) Annie finally picked out the perfect color for her bedroom. They brought the three cans and paint brushes over to the register (not knowing that the woman at the front counter had been watching them the entire time).

"Did you find everything you were looking for?" the woman asked as she rang up their items.

"Yeah, we found everything, Marni," Annie said as she looked at the woman's name tag.

"We would have been faster if she hadn't insisted at looking at every single color," Jeff said as Annie scoffed and rolled her eyes at him.

Marni smiled as she put the items in a couple bags. "When me and my husband first opened this store we fought over every little thing. 'Let's do it this way, no let's do it my way'. We didn't think we could work together at all. But we pushed through the disagreements and arguments and worked through things. And now we've been shop owners for twenty years, and happily married for twenty two years. Take it from a veteran; it gets easier after a while."

"Um, okay," Jeff said in confusion.

"If I can give you one piece of advice young man, it's this. Most guys who are newlyweds think they have to win every fight. The trick is to learn when to stand your ground, and when to accept defeat."

"Oh no," Jeff said. "We're not married."

"Yeah, we're not even dating," Annie quickly followed up with.

Marni looked at the both of them before smiling a knowing smile. "Okay."

"What does that mean?" Jeff said in annoyance.

"It means exactly what I said. Okay. Have a nice day you two."

Annie and Jeff looked at her before taking the paper bags and walking out of the store. "So she's crazy," Jeff said.

"Yeah," Annie said, nodding her head vigorously.

"I mean, thinking we're married. That's…"

Both of them laughed at the suggestion, but found their laughter dying down after a few moments. They looked at each other before quickly waking over to Jeff's car.

"Ok, let's get back so we can paint," Annie said exasperatedly.

"Yup, can't wait to paint," Jeff said as he sped off.

Though the two of them didn't talk about it, they found them thinking about Marni and what she had said to them. And it seemed the storeowner did make an impact on them. For when they were making out the guest list for their wedding three years later, then both agreed to send an invite to Marni and her husband.


End file.
